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THEADVO ATECA P U B L I C A T I O N O F S H A L A K A N Y L A W O F F I C E

Fall 2009 Issue No.13

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2 Lex Mundi www.shalakany.com

The key to Lex Mundi is the quality of the individual memberfirms. Member selection criteria are very stringent andmembers are among the leading law firms in theirjurisdictions. While remaining independent, each LexMundi member firm is committed to uniform servicestandards that provide clients with consistency andconfidence, and each shares a remarkable dedicationto clients.

By selecting a Lex Mundi law firm, clients can haveconfidence that they will be connected to:

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Lex Mundi member firms must be committed to providingnot only high quality legal work, but superior client serviceas well. Each member firm is admitted only after substantialdue diligence, and must survive regular quality and peerreview procedures in order to retain membership in theassociation.

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Each Lex Mundi member is an elite firm in its jurisdiction.Potential members are evaluated on quality,responsiveness, ability to provide a full range of legalservices, reputation, technology, management structure,ethical standards, conflict avoidance procedures, size,court admissions and other criteria.

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Lex Mundi member firms are locally based law firms,indigenous to their areas. As a result, they have developedthe expertise most necessary in their jurisdictions, as wellas strong ties to the legal and business communities. Theyalso can apprise clients of the area’s political contextand provide firsthand information about the locallandscape.

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3Editor’s Letterwww.shalakany.com

It was the poet Robert Graves who wrote a book of this title when he left England. I am surethat our colleagues who left us three months ago may have felt the same. It is not easy to leave'home', and let me tell you it is not easy for those that remain either. But if life is a journey, andthe only meaning we can get out of it is for us to grow as human beings, in the sense of realizingour full potential, then when growth is stifled, when journeys are at cross purposes, when compassesare not aligned, it is better to part ways, each to his or her destination. There is no acrimony, weare simply on different journeys. Our good ship Shalakany sails on (by the way for those that do

not know this, the English usage of the term 'good ship' is a term of endearment and not meantto suggest that other modes of transportation, be they other vessels, speed boats or yachts are 'bad'). Wesail on seeking that perhaps utopian idea of a legal institution that makes a difference.

By Khaled El ShalakanyBy Khaled El ShalakanyEditor-in-ChiefEditor-in-Chief

Honorary ChairmanHonorary ChairmanAli El Shalakany (deceased)

Editor-In-ChiefEditor-In-ChiefKhaled El Shalakany

Production ManagerProduction ManagerGhada Farouk

Contributing WritersContributing WritersAmr El SabahiHussein GoharNehad SalemYasser Omar

Reviewing & Distribution OfficerReviewing & Distribution OfficerAngelika Buchheim

Design & PrintingDesign & PrintingSpirit Advertising

The Advocate is a publication ofShalakany Law Office. Any

reproduction of this newsletter is strictlyprohibited without the express written

consent of the publisher. Opinionsexpressed by contributing writers ormaterial printed from other sources

does not necessarily represent thoseof the publisher.

Copyright © Shalakany LawOffice, Egypt.

All rights reserved.

To subscribe to The Advocateplease send an email to

Theadvocate@shalakany.comwww.shalakany.com

all thatGoodbye to

In This IssueAn Eye on the LawThe Scope of the Federal UAE E-Commerce Law: Is it self-defeating?Dahab in the Telecom WorldMinister of Justice Decree Undermines Arbitration Process in Egypt

InterviewThe Oil and Gas Year talks to Mohamed Youssef Kamal

Sandooq El DoniaA New Wave in Egyptian Cinema

Arabic PoetryRubayat Salah Jahine

Short StoriesThe Grand Mufti of ParisThe Mark of Zorro

CultureMale Circumcision

In Every Issue

Lex MundiWhat you need to know about the World's leading Association ofIndependent Law Firms

Editor's LetterGoodbye to all that

News @ SLOUp-to-date Coverage of What is Happening at Shalakany Law Office

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4 www.shalakany.comAn Eye On The Law

ntroduction:With the advent of the internet,communication has become easy

and speedy. People from differentcountries of the world can communicatewith each other effectively through e-mail and even conclude contracts viaexchange of e-mails. The revolution incommunication and the internettransformed the world into a small villagea n d e l i m i n a t e d g e o g r a p h i c a lboundar ies . Th i s revo lu t ion incommunication provided companieswith golden opportunities to penetratenew markets. It is now easy for companiesto offer their products and services to afar larger community. Moreover, this gavebirth to companies which specialize inoffering goods for sale over the internetand act as middlemen. It is also possiblefor potential buyers to view the goods,their features and specifications on aseller's website and place their ordersaccordingly. In some cases, it is possible

to undertake a vi r tual t r ial , ordemonstration, which makes the buyeraware of all essential elements of thegoods before ordering the same.

This digital technology raises a host oflegal issues. The advances of technologynot only facilitated communication, butalso made it easy to deceive purchasers.Since communication recognizes noboundaries and the parties involved maybelong to more than one country, e-commerce also raises the issue of conflictof laws. Moreover, e-commerce raisesthe liability of the verifier of the electronicsignature and the admissibility ofelectronic documents as evidence.

Therefore, it could be argued that e-commerce requires a different legalregime that adapts to the nature of e-commerce and accommodates theneeds of the persons involved inelectronic transactions. The risks and

security issues inherent in dealings overthe internet require regulations andcontrols. Therefore, various countries havetaken the initiative to regulate e-commerce.

In the Arab world, Dubai pioneered theregulation of electronic transactions byissuing Law No. 2 of 2002 on ElectronicTransactions and Commerce. Followingin the footsteps of Dubai, the UAE FederalGovernment issued Federal Law No. 1 of2006 on Electronic Transactions andCommerce.1

As far as the Middle East and the Gulfregions are concerned, the UAE E-Commerce Law is considered as anexample to follow. Therefore, the UAELaw on Electronic Transactions andCommerce will be used as reference byneighboring countries when they wish todraft their own electronic commercelaws.

1 Regretfully, there is very little literature on the topic.

II

The Scope of the FederalUAE E-Commerce Law:Is it self-defeating?

5www.shalakany.com An Eye On The Law

Since the E-Commerce Law has beenenacted only in 2006, it is not surprisingthat there is a dearth of case law andscholarly work. It is unfortunate that theE-Commerce Law did not use theUNCITRAL Model Law on ElectronicCommerce as the first building block.2Therefore, whilst venturing theseuncharted waters, frequent referencewill be made to the UNCITRAL ModelLaw.

This study will focus on UAE Federal LawNo. 1 of 2006 on Electronic Transactionsand Commerce (“E-Commerce Law”)and explore the raison d'être and scopeof the E-Commerce Law as well as theimpact of the exclusions on its efficacy.

I. The Raison d'être of theE-Commerce Law.

An e-commerce law in any countrywould cover a number of key areas andissues that arise out of the moderntechnology and its impact on society.These key areas include, inter alia, theverification of electronic signatures, theevidentiary value of electronicdocuments, electronic contracts, theresponsibility of signature verifiers andthe responsibility of internet serviceproviders. In an ideal world, a single pieceof legislation would cover all of the keyareas. As such, an e-commerce lawwould be self-sufficient.

The UAE E-Commerce Law in its Article 3specifies its objectives. It is noteworthythat specifying the objectives of the lawin the text of the law itself is not part ofthe practices or legislative traditions ofcivil law countries in general and in theUAE in particular. This is a practice thatis associated with common law countries.This in itself suggests that the E-CommerceLaw has been prepared by common lawpractitioners and has been influencedby the British drafting style. This isespecially so, since in civil law countriesthe objectives of the law and itsbackground appear in the preparatoryworks and the explanatory notesaccompanying a bill.

A. Article 3:The two main objectives that relate tothe core of our study are the following:protecting the interest of the partiesinvolved in electronic transactions; anddefining their obligations and enhancingthe applications of electronic commerce

and reliability through legislativedevelopment.

B. Evaluation of the Objectives.It is noted that Article 3 provides for awide spectrum of objectives that cannotbe achieved by a single piece oflegislation independently of other laws.The achievement of such objectivesdepends on the legal environment in theUAE as a whole and not only on the textof the E-Commerce Law itself. Havingelectronic records by one of the partiesdoes not automatically encourage orenhance electronic commerce. Thecritical issue is the regulation of thetransaction itself and the admissibility ofsuch electronic records as evidence inlitigation.

The E-Commerce Law aims atencouraging electronic transactions byproviding rules as to the verification ofelectronic signatures to ensure theauthenticity and validity of electronicdocuments. This is a primary step insecuring the rights of the parties involvedin electronic transactions. The E-Commerce Law has to a large extentachieved this objective by havingdetailed rules in respect of the verificationof signatures. It could be argued,however, that the E-Commerce Lawfocuses on the formalities rather than thesubstance. While the majority of theArticles of the E-Commerce Lawextensively cover the authenticity ofelectronic messages and verification ofsignatures, the substantive rules leavemuch to be desired. The real success iswhen the E-Commerce Law passes thetest of litigation and turns out to beeffective in protecting the interests of allthe parties involved in an electronictransaction.

It is quite interesting that one of theobjectives is to enhance electronicc o m m e r c e o n d o m e s t i c a n dinternational levels. It is conceivable thatthe E-Commerce Law by regulatingelectronic transactions can enhancedomestic e-commerce but it is not clearhow it could enhance e-commerce onan international level. Reference tointernational e-commerce requiresregulation as to the issues arising fromthe conflict of laws and which law toapply to a transaction. However, the E-Commerce Law does not deal with theissue of conflict of laws or the applicable

law in the case of internationaltransaction involving a UAE party.

II. Exclusions from the Scopeof Application of theE-Commerce Law.

Article 2 of the E-Commerce Lawprovides for a list of documents that donot fall under its scope. Such exclusionsare worth exploring to define whetherthey serve the purpose of the E-Commerce Law or not.

A. Exclusions:When exploring the list of excludedactivities and documents, this study willnot follow the same order used by thelegislature but rather deal with thestraightforward exclusions first and thenfocus on the controversial ones.

The first exclusion under Article 2 is formatters relating to personal status suchas marriage, divorce and wills. Thedrafters of the E-Commerce Law are tobe praised for excluding these mattersgiven the importance of such matters aswell as the religious aspects of suchmatters.3 Personal status matters by theirvery nature and due to their connectionwith religious beliefs and rituals cannotbe subject to the E-Commerce Law.Marriage and divorce have their ownrituals under Shariah which do not fitwithin the electronic environment. It isnoteworthy that marriage, divorce andwills are set out by way of example andhence this is not an exhaustive list.Therefore, all personal status mattersfalling under the scope of Law No. 28 of2005 are excluded. Inheritance,guardianship and legal capacity areadditional examples of personal statusmatters that are excluded although notenumerated under the E-CommerceLaw.

The second exclusion is title deedsrelating to immovables. This exclusion isinteresting because it is in effect repeatedin the fourth one. The exclusion of titledeeds for immovables sounds strangewith the move of the UAE governmenttowards e-government applications.Moreover, the E-Commerce Lawprovides for the rules ensuring theauthenticity of electronic signatures. Onewould assume that if a title deed is signedelectronically by the seller and buyerand satisfies the requirements of

2 The UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce adopted by the UN General Assembly Resolution No. 51/162 of December 16, 1996 (United Nationspublication, Sales No. E.99.V.4, ISBN 92-1-133607).

3 The Legal Regime of Electronic Commerce in the United Arab Emirates, Dr. Khaled Mohamed Kadfour Al-Mehiri, 2nd edition, P. 161.

6 www.shalakany.comAn Eye On The Law

electronic signature under the E-Commerce Law, such title would fallunder the scope of the E-CommerceLaw. However, this is not the casebecause of the second exclusion.Likewise, a tit le deed issued bygovernment bodies using e-governmentapplications should have fallen underthe E-Commerce Law.

The fourth exclusion relates to transactionsof sale and purchase of immovables andany other disposition of immovables. Thesale and purchase of immovables willinevitably involve the creation of titledeeds. Hence, there was no need forthe drafters of the E-Commerce Law toprovide for the title deeds as a stand-alone exclusion. The fourth exclusion

e x t e n d s t o

include leases for more than ten yearsand dealings that create other real rightssuch as easements, and usufruct. As thisexclusion deals with any disposition ofimmovables, this means that any dealingon immovables is excluded. For example,endowments and gifts will be excludedfrom the application of the E-CommerceLaw. As commented above in relationto the exclusion of title deeds, thisexclusion should have taken into accountthe applications of e-governmentadopted by the UAE government andthe local governments of some of theEmirates and of the Dubai governmentin particular.

The fifth exclusion relates to anydocument that is legally required to benotarized, i.e. executed before a notarypublic.4 For example, Powers of Attorneyare legally required to be executed

before a Notary Public. This exclusionis logical and acceptable

because it respects the

formality required by the law for certaindocuments.

Article 2 provides that any document ortransaction that is excluded from theapplication of the E-Commerce Law byvirtue of a provision under any other lawwill not fall under the purview of the E-Commerce Law. This exclusion is quiteserious because it allows other laws tocontrol the scope of application of theE-Commerce Law. It is possible that thisexclusion be used to amend the scopeof applications of the E-Commerce Lawwithout amending Article 2 of the E-Commerce Law itself. In addition, itmakes legal research and practice quitedifficult. If a legal practitioner orresearcher needs to decide whether aparticular transaction falls under the E-Commerce Law or not he has to examineall other laws in order to be sure thatthere is no other law that excludes suchtransaction from the scope of applicationof the E-Commerce Law.

The third exclusion is negotiableinstruments. The term “negotiableinstruments” is a generic term thatincludes a wide range of legalinstruments.

First, this term covers securities such asshares and bonds issued by companies.It is unfortunate that the drafters of theE-Commerce Law excluded negotiableinstruments from the scope of the E-Commerce Law. This exclusion has beencriticized by commentators5. In today'sworld, the majority of transactions onsecurit ies are done on l ine, i .e.electronically. Owners of shares and othersecurities can give instructions for thesale or purchase of securities to theirbrokers by e-mail. Moreover, a sale andpurchase of securities can be made byexchange of e-mails between the sellerand buyer. Such exclusion leads to theexclusion of financial services from thescope of application of the E-CommerceLaw. This does not fit within the UAE driveto be the region's first financial centre.The UAE has made strong efforts over thelast few years to position itself as thefinancial hub of the Middle East. Thiswould necessi tate a legis lat iveenvironment that adapts to the methodsand techniques of work in the financialservices sector and caters to the needto have proper regulations while takinginto consideration that that sector hasbecome almost fully automated.

4 Ibid, P. 168.5 Ibid, P. 166.

7www.shalakany.com An Eye On The Law

Second, the term “negot iableinstruments” covers also all instrumentsthat are transferable and entitles thebearer or beneficiary to claim the deliveryof the goods, or the payment of sums ofmoney such as consignment notes, billsof lading, warehouse receipts, bills ofexchange and promissory notes. Thisexclusion means that all of theseinstruments are excluded from theapplication of the E-Commerce Law.Accordingly, the E-Commerce Law doesnot apply to the instruments issued bylogistics and shipping companiesbecause they are negotiable instruments.In fact, these instruments are used to selland transfer goods from one party toanother. Thus, a sale and purchasetransaction can be done throughexchange of e-mails and completed bythe endorsement of the bill of lading tothe purchaser. However, such transactionwill not fall under the E-Commerce Law.

It would have been much better if theE-Commerce Law had limited thisexclusion to the transactions conductedunder the rules of regulated stockexchanges and did not opt for thissweeping exclusion of negotiableinstruments.

It should be noted that the UNCITRALModel Law does not exclude theseinstruments from its scope of application.In fact, the UNCITRAL Law includesspecific rules that apply in relation tologistics services. Such rules could havebeen adopted by the drafters of the E-Commerce Law to widen its scope ofapplication.

It is noteworthy that the UNCITRAL Lawdoes not contain such a list of exclusions.Article 1 of the UNCITRAL Law6 is wordedin a way to ensure the widest scope ofapplication for the UNCITRAL Law. Itwould have been a proper approachfor the E-Commerce Law to adopt thesame wording in respect of its scope ofapplication

B. Authority of the Council ofMinisters.The third paragraph of Article 2 of the E-Commerce Law gives the Council ofMinisters the authority to amend the listof exclusions set out in the secondparagraph of Article 2. The authoritygranted to the Council of Ministersincludes the authority to add more

exclusions; remove one or more of theexclusions, or amend the exclusions. It isquite interesting that the drafters of theE-Commerce Law decided to give theCouncil of Ministers the authority to widenor tighten the scope of application ofthe E-Commerce Law. It is understoodthat the purpose of this authority is tomake this piece of legislation flexible.

The drafters of the E-Commerce Lawshould be praised for allowing thisflexibility under the E-Commerce Law.This makes life easier to overcome theloopholes explained above in terms ofthe excluded activities and instruments.The Council of Ministers can simplycorrect the situation by passing aresolution amending the list provided forunder Article 2 of the E-Commerce Law.

III. Do the Exclusions serve theObjectives of theE-Commerce Law?

The key objectives of the E-CommerceLaw is to provide protection for the partiesinvolved in electronic transactions andenhance the applications of e-commerce. These objectives requirehaving a piece of legislation that coversall applications of e-commerce.

A. The above exclusions in effect limit thescope of application of the E-CommerceLaw and remove from its scope a crucialsector which is financial services.Moreover, the impact of excludingnegotiable instruments will not onlyexclude financial transactions but alsolead to a number of sectors losing thebenefit of the E-Commerce Law, suchas the logistics services sector. The lastexclusion which has the possibility toexclude other transactions is rather riskyand could limit the scope of applicationof the E-Commerce Law by just passingother laws that are particularly designedto add more exclusions.B. One of the key objectives of the Lawis to facilitate e-commerce and removethe hurdles that may curb thedevelopment of e-commerce. However,we noted from the exclusions that tradein negotiable instruments and securitiesis excluded from the E-Commerce Law.This leads us to conclude that the E-Commerce Law had in fact limited itsscope of application to regulating tradein traditional goods and commodities inthe context of an electronic environment.Should the E-Commerce Law be keen

on enhancing e-commerce, it shouldhave covered all forms of e-commerce.Thus, the limitations on the scope ofapplication of the E-Commerce Law hadmore or less defeated some of itsobjectives.

IV. ConclusionThe E-Commerce Law has been enactedonly two years ago which means that itis still in its infancy and it still has todevelop. The above journey through theobjectives of the E-Commerce Law andthe exclusions from its scope ofapplication shows that there is a needfor a reform.

The required reform is to revisit theexclusions and widen the scope ofapplication of the E-Commerce Law by(a) including trade in negotiableinstruments in the scope of applicationof the E-Commerce Law and (b)eliminating the last exclusion and thusblocking other laws from diminishing thevalue of the E-Commerce Law or affectits scope of application. Moreover, theauthority of the Council of Ministers towiden or narrow the exclusions shouldbe reconsidered. Finally, it would be agiant and applaudable step if the E-Commerce Law were to deal with thedifferences between transactionsbetween businesses (B2B trade) andtransactions between businesses andcustomers (B2C trade).

It is possible to correct the situation byhaving the Council of Ministers amendthe list of exclusions using the authoritygranted to them under the E-CommerceLaw. Thus, the process of correctionwould be rather simple.

Being the leaders of the Arab world inregulating e-commerce puts a burdenon the UAE shareholders to continue theirleading role by updating theirE-Commerce Law and making it acomprehensive piece of legislation.

By Yasser Omar*

6 Article 1 of the UNCITRAL Law provides that: “This Law applies to any kind of information in the form of a data message used in the context of commercialactivities”.

* Partner at Shalakany Law Office; International Practice Diplomas from the College of Law of England and Wales in International Commercial Law, InternationalCommercial Arbitration, International Joint Ventures, International Business Organizations, International Mergers and Acquisitions and International CapitalMarkets and Loans; Master of Laws in International Business Law (Cairo University - Paris University I), Bachelor of Laws (Ein Shams University).

s a lawyer who happens to be aloyal fan of Egyptian films made inthe 1950s, I could not help noticing

the resemblance between the essenceof one of the films of the said era and thecore aspect of a recent local legal disputethat grasped the attention of spectatorsworldwide.

In 1953, Egyptian film pioneer Anwar Wagdidirected and starred in “Dahab” (Arabicfor gold) alongside the always and foreversensational child actress Fayrouz. In thatfilm, Fayrouz played the role of Dahabwho was born to a rich family that, for noobvious reasons other than melodramaticcruelty, abandons her when she is anewborn to be found and raised by astruggling musician played by Wagdi. Ata young age, Dahab becomes a singingand dancing child star and enriches herfoster father. This new status of Dahabsends her original family demanding hercustody rights to overcome the loss offortune encountered in the years followingthe abandonment of their child, and ofcourse the foster father fights back.

The film approaches the eternal idea oftwo sides fighting over one valuable thing,yet for totally different reasons. One party'sperspective relates to passion andaffection, and the other's puts fortune first.

To Egypt's richest man, Naguib Sawiris,ECMS is his unborn child that resembles inmany ways Wagdi's Dahab in the filmhaving the same title.

Naguib's dispute with France Telecom(“FT”) over the ownership of the publicallylisted Egyptian Company for MobileServices (“ECMS”) cannot be easily wonby FT since he regards ECMS as the firstchild to the Egyptian telecom empire ofOrascom Telecom (“OT”), incorporatedand held by Naguib and his family.

Undeniably, Naguib's passion ahead offortune perspective is somehow unusualin today's business world and especiallyin these days of economic hardship whererevenues and risks are considered to bethe main criteria for standing on thefeasibility of a business.

The shareholding structure of ECMS isrelatively complicated as it is publicallylisted in the Egyptian Exchange, yet it iscontrolled by the privately held companyof Mobinil Telecommunications (“Mobinil”),which holds 51% of ECMS shares. To bemore specific, OT holds 20% of ECMS and28,75% of Mobinil, which amounts to 34.6%of ECMS when combined, while FT holds71.25% of Mobinil, which is considered as36.4% indirect shareholding of ECMS andthe remaining 28.97% of ECMS shares arefree floating.

In 2007 OT sought an arbitration awardthat would entail FT to transfer all of itsMobinil shares to it with OT initiatingarbitration proceedings against FT beforethe ICC arbitration court. In contrast toOT's expectations however, in March 2009the ICC arbitration court issued an awardrejecting its claims and condemning it totransfer its entire stake in Mobinil to FT ata price of EGP 273 per share.

However, the settlement of this longdispute led to even further disputes withthe introduction of new parties. When FTapproached the Egyptian Capital MarketAuthority (the “CMA”) to enforce thearbitration award, it was faced with amajor obstacle when the CMA stated thataccording to Law No. 95 of 1992 onCapital Markets, in order to protect therights of minority shareholders, FT mustsubmit a tender offer for buying all theshares of ECMS, if it wishes to acquire allthe shares of the privately held Mobinil.

According to Article 353 of the ExecutiveRegulations of Law No. 95 of 1992 onCapital Markets, if any person or entityholding more than one third (and up tobut not exceeding 50%) of theshareholding or voting powers of apublically listed company acquires overa period of twelve consecutive monthsmore than 2% of that company's shares,such person or entity must make a tenderoffer for buying all the shares of such acompany.

The same Article 353 further provides thatif any person or entity acquires at anypoint of time more than 50% of the

Dahab8 www.shalakany.comAn Eye On The Law

in the Tin the Telecom Welecom WorldorldAA

9www.shalakany.com An Eye On The Law

shareholding or voting powers of apublically listed company, such person orentity must make a tender offer for buyingall the shares of such a company.

According to the CMA's interpretation ofArticle 353, if it approves FT's acquisitionof all the shares of Mobinil, whether directlyor through any of its affiliates, FT would bean indirect shareholder of 51% of thepublically listed ECMS, and thus wouldbecome the actual controller of the votingpowers of ECMS, which definitely wouldrequire FT to make a tender offer for buyingall the shares of such a publically listedcompany as per the Law.

In addition to considering the rights ofminority shareholders, the CMA furtherstated that any tender offer made by FTmust acknowledge the principles of fairand equal treatment of the shareholdersof a publically listed company as stipulatedupon in Articles 327 and 328 of theExecutive Regulations of Law No. 95 of1992 on Capital Markets, which meansthat FT should offer to buy all the sharesof ECMS for EGP 273 as it is the highestshare price offered by FT.

The CMA's share price requirementcompl icated ECMS' acquis i t ion

transaction even further, and FT reportedthat the EGP 273 per share, which issignificantly higher than the market shareprice of ECMS, was determined by anarbitration award given in relation to theprivately held Mobinil, and that the shareprices of the publically listed and theprivately held companies should not bein the same pool.

As Article 338 of the Executive Regulationsof Law No. 95 of 1992 on Capital Marketssuggests that the share price offeredthrough a mandatory tender offer forbuying all the shares of a publically listedcompany, as in the case of FT, should bewithin the average market price of suchshares over the six months periodpreceding the date on which the tenderoffer is made, FT did not welcome theCMA's standing on the share pricerequirement and tension was escalatedbetween the two parties.

The CMA confirmed that it was not a partyto the dispute between FT and OT.

In my view, the complexity of theshareholding structure of ECMS, includingMobinil's stake therein, and the deadlocksituations allowed by such structure arethe main reasons that resulted in the

dispute in the first place and bred evenmore disputes with unrelated parties. Theshareholding structure of ECMS is inflexibleas it provides its two controlling partieswith equal voting rights and apparentlyno adequate means for overcomingdeadlock situations. Further, andregardless of the outcome of the ICCa r b i t r a t i o n p r o c e e d i n g s , t h eaforementioned shareholding structurerestricts FT and OT as well from increasingeither of their stakes in ECMS as anyacquisition of more than 2% of ECMSpublically listed shares would trigger amandatory tender offer for buying all theshares of ECMS, which bears the balancesheets of either of them with significantfinancial burdens should a stake increaseas little as the aforementioned percentagebe pursued. Finally, inflexible shareholdingstructures should be sought for long terminvestments. However, they should becomplemented with different scenariosfor approaching deadlock situations,shareholding stake increases and exitoptions to avoid lengthy and costlydisputes as in the dispute approached inthis article.

By Amr El Sabahi

he Egyptian Minister of Justice issuedDecree 8310 of 2008 ostensiblyregulating the deposit of arbitration

awards with the Courts. Deposit of anarbitration award is one of the stepsrequired under the Egyptian ArbitrationLaw No. 27 of 1994 (the Law) forenforcement. This is intended to be asimple administrative process underArticle 47 of the Law. However, the Minister of Justice for yetundisclosed reasons chose to introduceextremely serious, and in my opinionillegal and unconstitutional obstacles, toenforcement of arbitration awards,through Decree 8310 of 2008. The Decreesets up a Kafka like 'Technical Office'within the Ministry which, without hearingany party, takes a decision as to whetheran award can or cannot be deposited.In other words, whether an award canor cannot be enforced!Article (4) of the Decree reads as follows:The Technical Office of the Ministry of

Justice shall issue, in writing, its decisionas to acceptance or non-acceptanceof the application for depositing thearbitral award, after confirming thefollowing:First: The award requested to bedeposited:a)Does not include statements in

violation of the public order andmorals.

b) Is not related to real right on real estate,possession, handover or establishingownership or division thereof, and isnot related to any real estate in anymanner whatsoever.

c) Is not related to any personal statusissues (for Muslims, Non- Muslims,Egyptians or foreigners).

d) Is not related to any criminal issues.e)Does not include a rul ing for

establishment of conciliation regarding any of the above matters.

f) Is not related to an arbitration handlingissues that may not be disclosed.

Second: The Court is competent fordepositing the award, pursuant to Articles(9 and 47) of Civil and CommercialArbitration Law No. 27/1994.

This Decree contravenes the clearprovisions of the Egyptian Arbitration Lawand threatens to undermine the wholearbitration process in Egypt.The Decreeis currently subject to a Court challengeinitiated by Shalakany Law Office onbehalf of one of its clients.

By Khaled El ShalakanyBy Khaled El Shalakany

TT

Minister of Justice DecreeUndermines Arbitration Process in Egypt

10 www.shalakany.comInterview

Interview recently held withMohamed Youssef Kamal, Partnerat Shalakany Law Office

Extracts from

2009he Oil and Gas Year: What led you to enter the Oil and Gaslegal market?

Mohamed Youssef Kamal - Partner at Shalakany Law Office: Aspart of its extensive experience in advising its clients on a broadrange of legal issues in Egypt, Shalakany Law Office hasestablished a specialized department to handle oil and gasissues. The department was established five years ago and iscomposed of Mr. Emad El Shalakany (Senior Partner) and myselfin addition to a team of leading experts in that field.

We felt that, while oil and gas companies generally have in-house counsels, they are sometimes overloaded with day-to-day legal issues. When it comes to a big transaction you needan organisation that has financial, banking, capital market andcorporate expertise.

There is no independent law firm in Egypt that specializes onlyin oil and gas matters. The workload would be minimal, as, withmost businesses you cannot depend just on a single sector foractivity. However, we are proud to be a pioneer in Egypt as wehave a dedicated department for oil and gas matters. The mainbulk of our work has been in providing legal services that involvereviewing and drafting concession agreements, joint operationsagreements as well as deeds of assignment. Our legal servicescover a wide range of legal opinions relating to the applicablemining and quarries laws and regulations in Egypt and weprovide the required interpretation of such laws to our clients,as well.

In this respect, our clients are mainly oil and gas explorationcompanies in addition to governmental entities involved in theoil and gas industry. We then manage what the law stipulates,the privileges granted by the ministry and the privileges that areaccorded by production sharing agreements to the industry.

TOGY: The government is drafting a new mining law. In youropinion, what provisions could be put into that law to encouragethe industry?

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“The Oil&Gas Year”

11Interview

MYK: The main provisions of theconcession agreements have remainedthe same for several years, i.e., concessionagreements are very much alike.However, according to the new gasdiscoveries announced by the Ministry ofPetroleum, concession agreements woulddefinitely require new regulations thatwould satisfy the new discoveries in Egyptand that would present new advantagesto encourage multinational explorationcompanies to operate in Egypt. All suchadvantages would definitely beincorporated in the new draft of theMining and Quarries Law.

TOGY: How important is the oil and gasbusiness for the practice and what areyour expectations for its mid-term growthgiven the current financial situation?

MYK: The oil and gas industry in Egypt hasa strong future with new discoveries allthe time. The Western Desert, particularlyin the deeper horizons, has seen a realrenaissance in recent months. On top ofrenewed on-shore developments, thereare so many potential areas that couldproduce gas in the deep Mediterraneanand Gulf of Suez.

As our workload depends on the paceof such exploration, we remain confidentin continued and sustainable business.

As an example, we have recently workedfor new entrants to the Egyptian sector.Our work included the legal review oftender documents and submitting legalopinions in relation to the bid requirementsas well as the conditions sought by eitherEGAS or EGPC, depending on whetherthe concessions relate to gas or oilexploration.

TOGY: Are you expecting your work withnew companies to encourage yourbusiness with older and more establishedplayers?

MYK: Hopefully, yes. To illustrate this point,a long established exploration companyrecently contacted our office requestinglegal counsel instead of using their in-house team. As I said, we expect thistrend to continue and our oil and gasdivision to benefit as a consequence.

TOGY: The ambiguity surrounding therecently announced independent oil and

gas regulator has left many guessing asto the exact form it will take. Whatfunctions, powers and issues would youlike to see this new body tackle and howmight it affect the industry at large?

MYK: The new regulatory body shouldhave the power or competence to actas a 'one stop shop' for the industry.Hopefully, it would resolve any issues thatmay need the input of certain ministriesand cover difficulties in obtaining certainapprovals to avoid confrontationsbetween contractors and the relevantauthorities.

TOGY: We would also like to hear youropinion on the recent retraction of freezone status for energy intensive industries.How was the issue dealt with and whatlessons could be learnt?

MYK: In May 2008 a new law stipulatedthat all licenses given or provided to FreeZone projects that are heavy users of gas-as-energy would be terminated.

The provisions of this new law No. 114 forthe year 2008 include cer ta inamendments to the provisions of someexisting laws and set out new provisionsunder Article 12 concerning some of theFree Zone projects.

Those provisions stipulate that all licensesconcerning Free Zone projects whichinvolve the fertilizer industry, steel industry,petroleum product ion, and thep r o d u c t i o n , l i q u i f i c a t i o n a n dtransportation of natural gas that existedat the time of promulgating of said law,shall be terminated. These projects shallbe subject to the provisions of InvestmentLaw No. 8 of 1997. However, section twoof this Article indicates that suchtermination shall not oblige the existingFree Zone projects to pay taxes, customsduties or sales tax concerning anyequipment, machinery or production linesimported by the Free Zone Company forthe purpose of carrying out its activities.On the other hand, this Article stipulatesthat in the event the Free Zone companyis under formation and has not yetimported all required equipment ormachinery, it shall be exempted frompaying any taxes, customs duties or salestaxes for the importation of suchequipment or machinery for a period ofthree years from the date this law has

come in to fo rce o r un t i l thecommencement of the company'sactivity, whichever is earlier.

TOGY: As a concluding question, your oiland gas business is relatively young; whereare you hoping to take it and what newexpertise would you like to cater for?

MYK: That is a relevant question. Wealready have a landmark presence inthe upstream industry. With this footholdwe would like to explore and gainexpertise in the midstream field. Theupstream and downstream sides of thebusiness are two very separate domainswhen it comes to the law. As midstreamactivities are often linked to oil explorationand exploitation activities, it is of greatconcern to our clients.

This is where we believe we must improveour services and extend our knowledge.It covers possibly 20 percent of the legalassistance that we are required toprovide, but it is still a crucial part of thewhole field. In summary, our aim is tobroaden our expertise and knowledgein the midstream sector while growingour core relationships with explorationcompanies.

www.shalakany.com

12 www.shalakany.comSandooq el DoniaFi

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w A New Wave in Egyptian CinemaA New Wave in Egyptian CinemaBy Khaled El Shalakany

I have been impressed recently by a number of very good Egyptianfilms. I think this is a result of the broader exposure of our film makersto world cinema, through the internet and other media. These include:

The IslandA good action film based onallegedly a true story that took placein upper Egypt. A local strong manwas unofficially allowed by theGovernment to build a personalfiefdom (the Island) for drug andarms dealing. In return he and hisgang were used very effectively tocombat Islamic terrorists. When hebecame no longer useful, theinevitable confrontation took place.Ahmed El Saka stars along with HindSabry, both giving excellent performances. I also liked Khaled El Sawy as the police officer brokering thedeal.

Malik wa Kitaba(Heads and Tails)

A beauti ful ly done f i lm exploring thetransformation of a middle aged man from anemotionally inhibited and intellectually crippledperson to a fully living and loving human being.He is literally flipped over (heads to tails).Mahmoud Hemida is an excellent actor (one ofmy favourites) and here gives a brilliantperformance. Hind Sabry also stars here (she isin most of the good films, a clear testimony notonly to her fine acting but also her artisticintegrity.....).

The Aquarium(The Garden of Fishes)

A film by Yusri Nasrallah. Cerebral andutilizing modern techniques, where theactors comment on the charactersthey play. There is an apparentinfluence from a short story by Coltazar.Excellent acting all around, in thisexploration of human frailty and loss.Again starring Hind Sabry.

My heart was once a rattle, a bell it has becomeI shook it loud for maids and guards to come:I'm but a clown, why do you quake with fear?I do not ride a horse, nor do I point a spear...

To always meet then part, my love, is a mortal sin.You're always out, or away and seldom ever inBetween us many a distance do you keep,When I cross one, the next one is more deep...

Life is a giant waiting room in which to bideWhere men and asses wait, sitting side by side,Their pains and fears are one, their boredom shared,But who has heard of a donkey committing suicide?

O birds that fly so high, I thumb my nose at you!You do not think you're God's 'elite' I trust?You too eat worms, you too return to dust!I thought I'd tell you, so now: Bust!…

Translated by Nehad Salem

13www.shalakany.com Arabic Poetry

Tir Inta (You Fly)

Based, unashamedly, on Bedazzled, this Egyptian version is quite funny.The acting by Ahmed Miki and Danya Ghanem is excellent. What I alsolike about Ahmed Miki's films is that they are not only very funny, but theyalso include a clear exposition of all the contradictions and tragic-comiccircumstances of contemporary Egyptian society.

Rubaiyat Salah Jahine

14 www.shalakany.comShort Story

The Grand Mufti of Parisnside the Palace of Light where theGrand Mufti's office was located incentral Paris, not far from Avenue

Zulfiqar, there was frantic activity. The yearwas 2001, and the Islamic world coveringthree quarters of the globe was gettingset for the greatest Eid, that whichcelebrated every year the anniversary ofthe glowing victory by the armies of thefaithful at Poitiers led by the Great AbdelRahman in 110Hijri (732AD), when Europewas conquered in the name of Islam andAllah's benevolence was introduced tothe infidels in the North. This year's Eidpromised to be quite special as the lastremnants of fundamentalist Christianterrorism were close to being eliminated.Fundamentalists had resurfaced in recentdecades in parts of the New Continent(across the great ocean), Northern andEastern Europe. Their terrorist activitiesrepresenting the obstinate refusal by smallgroups to accept the fact that living asChristians in Dar Al Islam (the House ofIslam) necessitated the payment of specialtaxes, and exclusion from certain privilegesallowed only to the faithful. TheDepartment of Salah El Din (theRighteousness of Religion) also known asthe DSD had been pursuing these criminalgroups for decades. As per standardpractice, when caught, these lost elementswere of course subjected to years of'treatment' leading to the expungenceof evil from their souls. Paris, the city oflight, had been for centuries now thepolitical and religious center of the Islamicworld. The great Azhar University in thecenter of the city, casting the light of faithto the remotest corners of the world. Whatworried Sahib El Fadila (His Piousness) ImamNour El Din, the Grand Mufti, was thedisturbing reports from senior DSD agentsthat a particular group of Christian scientistshad apparently been conducting secretresearch in temporal physics, with the aimof creating a time machine. What wasscience fiction a few decades ago wasnow apparently science fact. How thisgroup of Christian scientists were able toconduct their research for years withoutattracting the attention of the DSD was amystery, and His Piousness was intent onpunishing those responsible for this glaringlack of diligence. But first all attention mustbe directed at stopping these terroristsbefore they complete their satanic project.They had apparently disappeared justbefore the DSD scooped to make thearrests. Their whereabouts were not known

and a huge reward of 20 million Dinarswas offered for any information leadingto their capture. A few days before Eid HisPiousness was extremely agitated andworried when he received the latest DSDreport. The scientists had been corneredin a remote town in Northern Europe, andbefore they could be captured they blewthemselves up along with all their researchnotes and equipment. A thorough forensicinvestigation had revealed that one ofthe scientists was missing, a young woman.There was also evidence that a machineof sorts was destroyed in the explosion.Was this the 'time machine' that they hadbeen constructing? The evidence was notconclusive. But a digital dial attached tothe machine read 732, quite disturbing.Moreover, the DSD agents found evidenceat the scene of a container stolen a fewmonths ago from a medical researchlaboratory in London where research oninfluenza was being conducted. Aparticularly virulent strain of the influenzavirus was kept in the missing container.Strange information indeed. While theGrand Mufti was relieved that this grouphad finally been tracked down anddestroyed along with their nefariousmachine, he could not help but feelingslightly uneasy about the results of theinvestigation. Where was the missingwoman, and did she intend to spoil theEid celebrations by exposing innocentpeople to this virus. Many questions withno answers. A few days later on themorning of the Eid, September 11, 2001,the Grand Mufti woke up early. He wasstill in Paris, but in a little apartment on RueMonsieur le Prince. He was a historyprofessor, and was having difficultiesrecovering from a night of heavy drinking.He was late for a lecture that he wasscheduled to give later that day to hisstudents at the Sorbonne. It was one of hisfavourite lectures. The topic was simplywhat would have happened had thearmies of Islam prevailed at the battle ofPoitiers. A battle that ended in annihilationof the Muslim army. One of the reasons ofthe great victory by the Christian armyunder Charles Martel was of course theflu epidemic that hit the Muslims a fewdays before the battle. Professor JeanClaude always ended his lecture with thejoke 'had the Muslims won, who knows, Icould have been now the Grand Mufti ofParis… ha-ha.'

By Khaled El Shalakany

II

ur fifth grade maths teacherfailed the whole class. I think itwas an issue of discipline, we

must have been a very naughty bunch,and she wanted to make a point. TheSchool administration supported her.The thing is that we were all condemnedto study maths throughout the summerand sit for a make-up exam. My father,a lawyer, always fancied himself ascientific man, and was in love withmathematics. I think his secret dreamwas to become an engineer. He wasaghast that his son failed in maths. Atutor was hired toute suite to work withme and ensure that I pass themake-up exam at the end of summer.In our first lesson, the tutor, an elderlyman in his fifties, and clearly a wellexperienced maths teacher, madethings very clear, In return for my fullcooperation and whole heartedimmersion in the world of maths, hemade a solemn promise. If I passed theexam, he would get me a Zorro kit, mask,cape and sword, the works. Now youcannot imagine what this meant for me.I was ten, and the idea of becoming

Zorro, was fantastic. When we are atthat age, we become the characterswe pretend to be. Cowboys, Indians,Arsene Lupin, Tarzan and others. I couldsee myself, cape flying, putting thefamous Z sign on walls, furniture andtrees, marking my heroic adventuresand outwitting poor Seargent Garcia.Now in the socialist Cairo of the sixties,luxuries such as children's costume kitswere not available. I questioned mytutor at length. Where will he get thekit? He assured me that he had a sisterwho lived abroad, and that when thetime came she will buy it and send itover. All I had to do was pass the exam.It was magical. I spent the wholesummer dreaming of that Kit. I alsoworked very hard on my maths, therewas no room for failure, not when Zorrowas concerned. I think it worked, andfrom that point onwards maths wasnever difficult. In fact years later, makingmy father proud, I ended up at theFaculty of Engineering, where wecertainly did a lot of maths. Back to thatsummer, and my tutor. The examloomed closer, but for me all the

excitement was about that mask andSword. How I waited for that exam, thesummer passed slowly ever so slowly.The big day finally came, and needlessto say, I passed the exam with flyingcolours. I remember getting a phonecall from the tutor congratulating meon passing the exam. Of course, I wasquick to ask him about the Zorro kit. Heassured me that it was ordered and onits way. Days and weeks passed, still noZorro kit. I refused to believe it, but itfinally dawned on me, there was no kit,the tutor lied to me, and I will notbecome Zorro after all. I have never trulygotten over this disappointment. We allsuffer disillusionment at various points inour life, and I have had my fair share.But this episode still looms large. To thisday, I rue the loss of that mask, capeand sword, and I still dream of thatfantasy world, where promises are kept,and where Zorro fights heroically on theside of the good, leaving his mark for allto see.

By Khaled El Shalakany

The Mark Zorro

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15Short Storywww.shalakany.com

16 www.shalakany.comCulture

ifferent cultures have performed theritual of male circumcision (excision

of all or part of the foreskin of the penis)or subincision (ranging from a small cut ofthe foreskin to slitting a variable length ofthe under surface of the penis) for differentreasons such as a sacrifice or offering,submission to a deity, initiation intoadulthood, a mark of slavery, or anattempt to alter sexuality. It can beperformed at different stages of life: shortlyafter birth, during childhood or around thetime of puberty.

Anthropologists disagree about the originof male circumcision. Some believe it waspart of the Heliolithic culture some 15,000years ago which then spread to the restof the world (cultures worshipping the sunand constructing temples using hugestones); others believe it originatedindependently within several differentcultures.

Australian aboriginal societies practicedboth types of circumcision on malesaround the time of puberty as an initiationrite, possibly as far back as 10,000 B.C.The origin of this practice may haveinitiated independently or it may havebeen introduced by the Malay traders onthe north coast. Some tribes of northernNew Guinea and many Australian tribesalso perform this ritual as an initiation riteinto adulthood around puberty. It isviewed as a process of death andresurrection: death of a young boy andresurrection as an adult. The young boysare swallowed and then disgorged by amystical monster. Women and uninitiatedpersons are not allowed to attend suchceremonies.

Most African tribes also use circumcisionas an initiation rite. Most of theseceremonies are public; however, it is beingdone under medical supervision to avariable extent in recent years. Amongstthe Massai people of Tanzania and Kenya,circumcision signifies the passing ofchildhood at around the age of twelve.Once boys have been circumcised in anelaborate ceremony, they graduate tobecome new recruits to the rank of warrior. Among some West African animist groups,circumcision is taken to represent aremoval of "feminine" aspects of the male,turning boys into fully masculine males.Surprisingly little if any literature exists aboutcircumcision in ancient Egypt. The

procedure has not been mentioned inmedical texts found so far but has beenfound in some reliefs. The hieroglyphicsymbol for the phallus depicts the organwithout foreskin. It is not known if it wasperformed as a ritualistic cut or as a formalcircumcision. The procedure was donearound the time of puberty for hygienicpurposes. Probably during the Middle andOld Kingdoms it was done for royals,nobles, and priests. During the late periodit was mandatory for priests to be purifiedin order to perform their temple duties.During the Roman period the procedurewas banned except for priests. The earliestevidence of circumcision can be seen ina relief on the east doorway in a tomb inSaqqara from the 6th Dynasty of the OldKingdom. A stela dating from the firstintermediate period in Nag Ed-Deir (11thDynasty) shows that mass circumcisionwas practiced. Anthropologists suggestthat this custom was adopted from eastAfrican tribes and later was adopted bythe Jews and the Arabs.

Jews circumcise their sons according tothe Book of Genesis when God orderedAbraham to get circumcised at the ageof 99 as well as all the males in his house,all bought slaves, and all his descendants. The ritual is done on the eighth day afterbirth. Once a boy is circumcised, his Godlysoul begins to enter his body in a processthat is completed at his Bar Mitzvah at theage of thirteen. There is a lot of debateof how circumcision was originally done - some scholars believe that it entailedremoving only the protrusion of the foreskinas opposed to removing the wholeforeskin. The latter procedure wasintroduced when restoration of the foreskinwas attempted by some during the Greco– Roman period.

The case of circumcision in Christianityposes a unique problem, as the debate iswhether circumcision should be done inthe first place rather than the timing or thetechnique. The Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritreanand some other African churchesadvocate circumcision. Some Christianchurches celebrate the circumcision ofChrist. The Coptic Church in Egypt, forexample, celebrates this on the 6th dayof Toubah which corresponds to the 14thor 15th of January. Advocates ofcircumcision clearly rely on the OldTestament instructions mentioned aboveand the fact that Jesus was circumcised

on the 8th day. In addition to literalcircumcision, i.e., the operation itself, theygo on to emphasize the spiritual meaningof circumcision.

The Greek and Roman esthetic point ofview towards the human body is quiteexplicit when the genitals are portrayed. Invariably the penis was depicted in itsuncircumcised form. They consideredcircumcision a form of surgical mutilationand the circumcised penis was viewedwith distaste. Circumcised males whowished acceptance, especially in sportscompetitions, had to undergo anoperation to restore their foreskin.

Muslim circumcision is not mentionedexplicitly in the Qur’an but only in somehadiths. It is said that Mohammed wasborn circumcised, while some say thatcircumcision was done by Gabriel whenhe opened his chest; others say that hisgrandfather circumcised him accordingto the Arab traditions. Scholars, however,interpret some verses in the Qur’an tooblige Muslims to follow the religion ofAbraham as a command to circumcisetheir male children. The age at whichcircumcision is performed is anothersubject of debate. Some go for theseventh day because Mohammedcircumcised his grandchildren, Al-Hassanand Al-Hussein, on the 7th day. Still thereis disagreement if it is the 7th day after theday of birth or it is counted. Othersrecommended the 7th day and if delayedthe fortieth day and if delayed the 7thyear. Some recommended staying awayfrom the 7th day not to imitate the Jewsand recommended doing it just beforepuberty as to follow in Abraham’s footstepswhen he circumcised Ismail.

In general, it is difficult to be certain if thepractice of male circumcision has onlyone origin and then spread to differentareas or if it was a practice arisingindependently in different regions of theworld. In the Middle East area, however,it can be reasonably concluded that thepractice had its origin in ancient Egyptand from there it was adopted by differentcultures and continues to the present day.

Adapted from an articleBy Hussein Gohar,

Gynecologist

Male CircumcisionDD

17News@SLOwww.shalakany.com

On March 31, 2009 Shalakany Law Office had the pleasure ofco-sponsoring a conference jointly organized by The AmericanUniversity in Cairo and the IDR Group at the American University'sdowntown campus, Egypt.The conference, entitled 'Investment State Arbitration, ResourceNationalism & Institutional Impartiality: The Challenge forInternational Dispute Resolution,’ hosted speakers and panelistsfrom all over the world and from different areas of expertiserelated to arbitration and dispute resolution.

The IDR Group is a small not-for-profit group of internationaldispute resolution specialists. Its members are made up ofarbitrators, lawyers, and other professionals from a number ofcountries around the world who work alongside a panel ofconsultants such as professors and other professionals who arenot necessarily practicing lawyers or arbitrators, but who areexperts in fields relevant to international dispute resolution.The conference covered a wide range of topics under thegeneral theme of Resource Nationalism and InternationalCommercial Arbitration and came to a close with a focus onthe importance of ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) as anew trend and the future of mediation.

Dr. Khaled El Shalakany, who is the Senior and Managing Partnerof Shalakany Law Office, was a contributing member of thepanel discussing the importance of alternative dispute resolution.The Panel was headed by Professor Ahmed El Kosheri, one ofthe most senior and leading arbitration experts in Egypt.

Among the Fellow speakers at the conference were Dr. ArifHyder Ali, Co-Chair of Crowell & Moring LLP's InternationalDispute Resolution Practice; Samaa Haridi, from Crowell &Moring's International Dispute Resolution Group; as well asAnthony Connerty , Barrister at Lamb Chambers, Temple, London;Johan Gernandt, Senior Partner at Gernandt & Danielsson,Stockholm; Reza Mohtashami, Counsel at Freshfields BruckhausDeringer; Jason A. Fry, the Secretary General of the ICCInternational Court of Arbitration; and Professor Ahmed El Kosheri.

The American University in Cairo’s Department of Law wasfounded in 2005 and offers two different degree programs: theIbrahim Shihata Memorial Master of Laws in International andComparative Law (LL.M) and the Master of Arts in InternationalHuman Rights Law (IHRL).

The LL.M program was named in memory of the late IbrahimShihata, general counsel and senior vice president of the WorldBank, who insisted on the importance of legal education toadvancing the rule of law and ensuring the region’sdevelopment. The university’s LL.M program takes inspirationfrom Shihata’s career and scholarship, with an emphasis on thelegal framework for economic and political liberalization. Coursesinclude: international commercial arbitration, Arab commerciallaw, Islamic finance, comparative law, antitrust law, transnationalbusiness law, corporate governance and modern Egyptianlegal history. It is the first to offer American-style legal educationin the Arab world. Several faculty members of Harvard LawSchool were involved in setting up the curriculum and continueto offer occasional lectures on an individual basis.

The IHRL program is also the first in the Middle East to offer highquality, American-style legal education, with an emphasis onthe legal framework for the protection of human rights. The IHRLMaster’s program, which is open to graduate students with adegree in law, political science or a closely related social sciencesubject, includes academic and practical instruction on theinstruments and processes for the protection of individuals andgroups before international, regional and domestic organizations.

The IHRL program incorporates several courses such asInternational Law, Human Rights in the Middle East, HumanRights in Africa, International Refugee Law, Citizenship in theArab world, Muslims in Europe, as well as the United Nationsand the question of Palestine. The courses generally aim toprovide students with a global legal education and anunderstanding of legal and political issues relevant to the MiddleEast and Africa.

AUC’s Department of Law encompasses a diverse body offaculty. Coming from leading universities in the United States,Europe and the Middle East, they are active, thoughtful scholars,mentors to individual students and advisers to the Law StudentAssociation. Faculty members coordinate special projects,conferences and numerous events that address current legalissues and strengthen the law department’s ties with internationaland local legal communities.

Shalakany Law Office co-organizes a Conference with the American Universityin Cairo and News from the AUC's Department of Law

Anthony Connerty

Shalakany Law Office announces the Firm's newly electedpartners: Laila Bahaa El Din, Mohamed Shaker, Noha M. Sherif,Osama Abdel Aziz, Dr. Moataz El Mahdy and Dr. Dina Salah,thereby increasing the number of partners to 16 effective July1st 2009.This year's election underscores the Firm's focused growth-strategy. The election of the new partners and an overall verysatisfactory growth in the business proves that a multi-disciplinaryfull-service law firm is a good basis for profitable expansion.

Laila Bahaa El Din, who joined the Firm's Litigation Departmentin 1985, has extensive experience in commercial matters withspecial emphasis on resolving contractual disputes. Laila'sspecialty areas cover commercial, construction, and maritimelaws, international aviation, bankruptcy and commercialagencies. Laila is a very strong advocate and is experienced innegotiating settlements, mediation and other commercialmethods of dispute resolution. Laila addresses and resolvesdisputes before courts, mediation panels, administrative agencies,Ministry of Justice experts, and the State Council.

Mohamed Shaker has been with the Firmsince 1987 and is the Head of the Firm'sIncorporation and Procedures Departmentthat provides clients with a wide variety ofservices, ranging from advising on documentsfor establishing companies, branches,subsidiaries or international corporatestructures, to giving corporate advice on dayto day matters, attending Board andShareholders meetings and obtaining andregistering official authorizations, licenses andvisas.

Noha M. Sherif has been a member of theFirm's Litigation Department since 1992 andshe is part icular ly exper ienced intelecommunications and banking, as well aslabor and employment litigation cases. MsSherif has broad experience in litigation ofmajor cases, including mediations, trials andappeals before tribunals and first instancecourts in addition to handling disputes relatedto L/Gs, L/Cs, cheques, promissory notes, etc.,as well as preparing and reviewing due

diligence documents and drafting of reports thereon.

Osama Abdel Aziz joined the Firm in 1987and is a member of the Firm's LitigationDepartment; Ossama has considerablee x p e r i e n c e i n t h e a r e a s o ftelecommunications, banking, labor,employment and commercial litigationmatters. Mr. Aziz's experience covers allphases of litigation including trials andappeals before tribunals and first instancecourts.

Dr. Moataz El Mahdy is a member of theTourism and Hotels Department at the Firmsince 2000, where he is involved in the areaof Hotels and Tourism, and related contracts,litigation and arbitration arising therefrom.He also advises clients on various issuesrelating to Hotel Management Agreements,Touristic Units' Sale Agreements, Timeshareprojects, marketing, etc. Dr. Moataz El Mahdyis also an Assistant Professor at the Civil Law

Department- Faculty of Law, Cairo University. Dr. Moataz El Mahdy obtained an LL.B. from Cairo University in1997, a Diploma in Private Law in 1998, and a Diploma in IslamicLaw in 1999. Dr. El Mahdy presented a doctoral dissertationentitled "Hotel Accommodation Agreement and Civil Liability ofHotels" and was awarded his PH.D with honors from CairoUniversity.

Dr. Dina Salah joined the Firm as a SeniorAssociate in 2006. Since then, Dr. Salah hasbeen involved in major project finance,drafting syndicated loans, financial leasing,as well as securities agreements. She alsoadvises foreign investors on various issuesrelating to agency and distr ibutionagreements, companies incorporation andgeneral corporate matters and also isengaged in due diligence reviews, mergers

and acquisitions. Before joining the Firm, Dr. Salah was the DeputyManager of the Intellectual Property Rights Office, at theInformation Technology Industry Development Agency (I.T.I.D.A.),which is in charge of the enforcement of the Intellectual PropertyRights Law in respect of the protection of software and databases.

We are pleased to welcome these talented and committedlawyers as partners. Their election reflects their own success, theconfidence everyone at the Firm has in their abilities and thevaluable relationships they have developed with our clients.

18 News@SLO www.shalakany.comShalakany Law Office Announces New Partners, July 2009

Mr. MohamedShaker

Ms. NohaM. Sherif

Mr. OsamaAbdel Aziz

Dr. MoatazEl Mahdy

Dr. Dina Salah

In July 2009, Shalakany Law Office was pleased to announce the promotion of Mr. Sharif Shihata and hisappointment as a Senior Partner. The breadth of experience that Sharif Shihata brings to the Firm is a naturalcomplement to our Corporate Department and his rich experience is an invaluable resource to emergingand established businesses.Mr. Shihata joined the Firm in 1994 and became a partner in 2001. Sharif Shihata obtained a B.A. from BrownUniversity in Development Studies in 1990 and a Juris Doctor from Boston University in 1993. Sharif practicesbusiness law with an emphasis on Intellectual Property, labor and employment, International Arbitration,

Construction Contracts, IT Contracts and Joint Venture Agreements.Within these areas Sharif has broad experience in negotiating, drafting and interpreting a wide variety of complex agreements.His expertise also spans drafting and negotiating commercial contracts such as manufacturing, sale, distribution, agency,franchise, and share transfer agreements, in addition to drafting legal opinions on a wide range of issues and handlingincorporation of companies.

Congratulations to Sharif Shihata

Mr. SharifShihata

19News@SLOwww.shalakany.comCongratulations to Sharif Shihata

Shalakany Law welcomed Bassam Salah Moussa, Senior Associate,to the Firm's Corporate Department in August 2009 where he isinvolved in drafting and reviewing corporate agreements, duediligence reports and legal opinions in addition to dispute resolutionmatters. Bassam is a Legal consultant and litigator in differentlegal areas such as commercial and corporate law, constructionlaw, IP, labor law and arbitration.

Bassam obtained his LL.B. from Ain Shams University in 2002 and aDiploma in Contractual and Legal Aspects in Construction Industry,Construction Law, Claims, International Contracts and Arbitrationfrom the American University in Cairo in 2007.

Welcome on Board

Shalakany Law Office welcomes new Associates

Shereen ZakyAssociate, re-joined the Corporate Department, Cairo OfficeOmar SherifTrainee attorney-at-law, Corporate Department, Cairo OfficeIslam El SharkawyTrainee attorney-at-law, Alexandria OfficeEngy TarekExecutive Secretary, Corporate Department, Cairo OfficeHanaa YoussefExecutive Secretary, Corporate Department, Cairo Office

Sally MounirExecutive Secretary, Alexandria OfficeRozena SafwatTelephone Operator, Cairo OfficeKarim FahmyAdmin Assistant, Cairo OfficeWaleed Abdel KhalekAdmin Assistant, Dubai OfficeSherif Saad AbdrabouNetwork Administrator, IT Department

Shalakany Law Office is pleased to welcome Ahmed AbdelQader, Senior Associate, who joined the Firm's LitigationDepartment in September 2009. His practical experience coversall phases of litigation including trials and appeals beforetribunals and first instance courts, in addition to unfair laborpractice complaints, employment issues and liabilities arisingin sales and purchases of businesses, and employment contracts.

Ahmed obtained an LL.B. from Cairo University in 1999 and anLL.M. in Business Law from the “Institut de droit des AffairesInternationales” (IDAI) in 2007.

In August 2009 Shalakany Law Officewelcomed Rasha Elganzouri, SeniorAssociate, to our Firm's CorporateDepartment. She is responsible forcorporate commercial matters includingthe structuring of entities for investment,construction, acquisitions, leasing, hotelmanagement, f inance, companyf o r m a t i o n , a n d j o i n t v e n t u r earrangements.

Rasha received her BA in Political Science from Saint Mary'sCollege (USA) in 1993, and a Juris Doctor (JD) and a Mastersin Business Administration (MBA) in 1997 from the ChicagoKent College of Law (USA). She is a US attorney licensed topractice law in Chicago, Illinois and Washington, D.C., andshe has over twelve years of experience working for the USlaw firms DLA Piper (Chicago, IL), Wilmer Cutler & Pickering(Washington, D.C.), and Patton Boggs LLP (Dubai, UAE).This extensive work experience in the US and in Dubai providesher with an excellent ability to assist international clients onmatters in the Middle East and the United States. Rasha isfluent in English, Arabic and Spanish.

Shalakany Law Office is pleased to welcomeMr. Amr El Sabahi as a Senior Associate to itsCorporate Department. Mr. El Sabahi isinvolved in drafting and reviewing corporatedocuments and commercial agreements aswell as banking and finance matters.He obtained an LL.B. from Cairo University in2000, and an LL.M. from the University of NewSouth Wales (“UNSW”) of Australia in 2004.

Through his professional career, he was involved in the followinglegal transactions:- Paris Sorbonne University - Abu Dhabi and Zayed University in AbuDhabi , UAE - PPP

- Naeem Holding Company for Investments, S.A.E - CapitalMarkets/Listing

- Smart Village Company - Incorporation and Structure- Aston Martin - Private Equity- ELNG - Project Finance- EBIC - Project Finance- Misr International Bank - Privatization

Aly El Shalakany is a young and talentedlawyer that joins the firm from none otherthan Linklaters LLP in London, whom hejoined initially as a trainee solicitor. Alyhas a wealth of experience in bankingand finance, notably working on theLehman's Europe restructuring, as well asa number of deals involving bi-lateral andsyndicated lending, acquisition finance,bond issues, MTN programmes,securitisation and Islamic finance.

Moreover, Aly has worked on a number of arbitration caseswith a particular focus on finance related disputes and theoil and gas industry. Prior to starting his legal career, Aly readlaw at the School of Oriental and African Studies, Universityof London in the UK. Before Aly began his facination withthe law, in his previous life he was an economist, where heobtained his Honours B.A. in Economics from the Universityof Toronto in Canada.

Aly El Shalakany

RashaElganzouri

Amr El Sabahi

A new Law by the Federation ofEgyptian Industries

Mr. Emad El Shalakany, Senior Partner, played a key rolein the drafting of the new law issued by the Federationof Egyptian Industries, adopted on April 6, 2009.

The law came inthe context ofdeveloping lawsand legislation bythe Federation tostrengthen its rolea s a l e a d i n gorganization in theindustrial area inEgypt, and thus toa c h i e v e a ne f f e c t i v eimplementation ofthe Federation’sfunctions.

This new law shallimpact the long term development of Egyptian Industriesas it regulates the establishment of industrial chamberswith special emphasis on the important role played bythe Federation and the member chambers.

The law was issued and approved by the Board ofDirectors of the Federation of Egyptian Industries.

20 News@SLO www.shalakany.com

Our Tourism, Hotels andServices Department hassuccessfully closed one of thebiggest deals of the yearbetween Wings for TourismInvestment, an Egyptiancompany and member in theWings Group specialized inthe field of tourism and hoteldevelopment and investmentin Egypt, and Atlantica LeisureGroup, an international groupof companies specialized in the field of tourism, hotels andtour-operating business.The abovementioned deal is mainly aimed at combiningthe parties’ strengths and resources in the activities of fourJoint Venture Companies, so as to maximize their operatingefficiencies, purchasing power and commercial influenceas well as to identify and plan potential investments, tobuild, acquire, develop, manage, market and commerciallyexploit hotels in Egypt.

Closing the said deal successfully and in compliance withEgyptian laws and regulations, entailed the drafting andnegotiation of all Agreements and Exhibits related to thesaid deal, which were successfully executed by the Parties(JV Agreement, Management Agreements, UsufructAgreements, Lease Agreements, Loan Agreements andConsultancy Agreements).We warmly congratulate our Tourism and Hotels Departmentmembers, Mr. Saleh Hafez, Senior Partner, and Dr. MoatazEl Mahdy, Partner, for this achievement.

Congratulations to our Tourism,Hotels and Service Department

Shalakany Law OfficeWelcomes Legal Counselors

Mr. Emad El Shalakany

Mr. Saleh Hafez

Shalakany Law office is pleased toannounce the appointments of Dr.Nabila Raslan and Dr. SamyAbdelbaki as Legal Counselors inthe Litigation Department andC o r p o r a t e D e p a r t m e n t ,respectively, effective July 2009.These appointments will certainlybring additional expertise and legalknowledge to our Firm.

Dr. Raslan is a professor in theFaculty of Law at Tanta University

and provides legal advice to laborand employment litigators within our Firm, as well as providinglegal advice on all aspects of civil law. She has authored alarge number of articles and studies on civil law and labor lawand has extensive experience in the field of labor law, advisingon policies, employee benefit plans, compensation, andinsurance matters.

Dr. Nabila Raslan

Prior to joining Shalakany LawOffice, Dr. Abdelbaki was the legaladviser to the Head of the CapitalMarket Authority, Egypt. Dr.Abdelbaki has broad experiencein all areas of stock exchangemarkets and securities and alsoadvises foreign investors on variousissues relating to agency anddistribution agreements, companyincorporat ion and generalcorporate matters. Dr. Abdelbakiis an Assistant Professor at the

Faculty of Law, Cairo University. Heis a regular speaker at various seminars and conferences onthe Capital Market Law. Dr. Abdelbaki has authored numerousarticles and legal studies on business law, the stock exchangemarket, foreign investments in Egypt, electronic arbitration andinternational finance.

Dr. Samy Abdel Baki

21News@SLOwww.shalakany.com

Shalakany Law OfficeContributes to the

DisputeResolution/ArbitrationHandbooks 2009/10

Dr. Khaled El Shalakany, Senior andManaging Partner of Shalakany LawOffice, has contributed two chapters onEgypt in the Cross-Border DisputeResolution/Arbitration Handbooks, justpublished by Practical Law Company atthe beginning of May on-line and as ahard copy. Volume I is a multi-jurisdictionalguide to Dispute Resolution, with CountryQ&A covering 23 jurisdictions, Cross-borderchapters, PLC Which Lawyer? Rankingsand Lawyer Profiles, while Volume II is amulti-jurisdictional guide to Arbitration,with Country Q&A covering 16 jurisdictionsand Cross-border chapters. ShalakanyLaw Office provided detailed informationabout all the types of dispute resolutionavailable in Egypt, including alternativedispute resolution issues, as well asArbitration in Egypt.

Dr. Khaled El Shalakany, Senior andManaging Partner, has contributed tothe “International Comparative LegalGuide to: International Arbitration 2009,”a publication by Global Legal World.Shalakany Law Off ice providedinformation about major topics forArbitration in Egypt, which includeArbitration Agreements, GoverningLegislation, Jurisdiction, Selection ofArbitral Tribunals, Procedural Rules,Evidentiary Matters, Making Awards,Appeals of Awards, Enforcement ofA w a r d s , C o n f i d e n t i a l i t y ,Remedies/Interests/Costs and InvestorState Arbitrations. The “InternationalComparat ive Legal Guide to :International Arbitration 2009” presentsa practical insight to cross-borderinternational arbitration work.

The guide is now available free to access onhttp://www.iclg.co.uk/index.php?area=4&kh_publications_id=111

Shalakany Law Office Contributes to the“International Comparative Legal Guide to:

International Arbitration 2009”

Mr. Yasser Omar, Partner at our DubaiCorrespondent Office, submitted aresearch paper to the ElectronicTransactions Conference organized bythe UAE University and the Emirates Centrefor Strategic Studies and Research heldfrom 19-20 May 2009 in Abu Dhabi. Theresearch paper focused on the scope ofapplication of the UAE Electronic

Transactions and Commerce Lawpromulgated by the UAE Federal Law No.1 of 2006 and the exclusions from its scopeof application, and is reproduced hereon pages 4-7. Mr. Omar attended theconference and delivered his speech onthe first day of the conference whichtriggered a number of questions from theaudience.

Shalakany Law Office Dubai participates in the 17thannual Conference for Electronic Transactions

Highlights

• We are pleased to congratulate Dr. Moataz El Mahdy, Partner, who has beenpromoted to Assistant Professor in the Civil Law Department- Faculty of Law, CairoUniversity.

• We are pleased to congratulate Dr. Assem Tharwat, Documentation Quality andDecision Support Manager, for his promotion to Head of the Decision SupportDepartment, Faculty of Computers & Information, Cairo University.

A portrait by our talentedcolleague and Partner, Mr.Mohamed Youssef Kamal

As the Exclusive Member Firm for Egypt of Lex Mundi, ShalakanyLaw Office participated in the Lex Mundi 2009 ManagingPartners Conference hosted by Arthur Cox (Ireland andNorthern Ireland). Dr. Khaled El Shalakany led one of thebreakout sessions discussing the competitive challenges facedin Africa and the Middle East.

The conference sessions covered a wide variety of significanttopics including: the competitive challenges of our currenteconomic times, change in the management of law firms,client feedback, career planning for partners, the pricing oflegal services, competitive challenges in uncertain times,retaining a firm's talent during uncertain times and structuredfinance.

The conference was a great success with 110 attendees frommember firms worldwide.

Shalakany Law Office participates inthe Lex Mundi 2009 Managing

Partners Conference heldJune 25-27, 2009, London

Our colleague Sally El Shalakany, a Senior Associate in theCorporate Department, participated in the 2009 Ius LaborisAnnual Member Congress, held May 7-9, 2009 in Cyprus.

Ius Laboris is a global alliance of labor/employment lawyerswith 47 member firms in 45 countries, with coverage in over 100countries. The theme of the congress for this year was "Navigatingthe tide of the global economic crisis."

Sally was a key speaker in a panel session titled "Labour andEmployment practices across the Middle-East: Cyprus, UAE,Egypt." Sally discussed the recent developments that tookplace in Egypt in respect to a number of employment matterssuch as: termination of contracts, employee benefits, dismissalsand layoffs and general practices.

Sally El Shalakany is a key member of the Firm's labor andemployment group with extensive experience in the field oflabor-management relations and is dedicated to helping clientsbecome more proactive in all related matters to prevent legalissues before they arise.The Firm's labor and employment group advises its clients oncontracts of employment in addition to handling the negotiation,drafting and termination of employment contracts, policies,employee benefit plans and compensation. It also representsclients in conciliation and arbitration proceedings before statebodies, handles applications for reorganization or reduction ofemployees, and implementation of any occupational healthand safety requirement issues and all related matters.

In August 2009, The Egyptian ADR Association held its SecondAdvanced Training Course in Mediation which was conductedby Dr. Minas Khatachadourian. The Egyptian ADR Associationis pioneering the application of mediation for the settlementof business disputes in Egypt.

Also in August, the Association co-organized the SecondMediation Seminar on Insurance Disputes in cooperation withthe Egyptian Insurance Federation and the Egyptian InsuranceSupervisory Authority. This event was chaired by Dr. MohamedRagai, Member of the Egyptian ADR Association and ExecutiveInformation Technology Consultant, the Egyptian InsuranceSupervisory Authority and its main objective was to introduceMediation concepts in Egypt with a special emphasis on theInsurance sectors. Among the fellow speakers of the seminarwere Mr. Abdel Raouf Kotb, Chairman of the InsuranceFederation of Egypt and Dr. Minas Khatchadourian, Memberof the Egyptian ADR Association and Professor of Law. Aroundsixty delegates representing top management of the Egyptianinsurance sector, insurance lawyers and counselors, lawadjusters as well as mediators attended. The participantsenjoyed expert presentations and panel discussions.

Two Egyptian ADRAssociation Events

Shalakany Law Office participates in the 2009Ius Laboris Annual Member Congress

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Sally El Shalakany (third from left)

In May 2009 Shalakany Law Office had the pleasure to organize a series of lectures on copyright law and electronic commerce.These lectures were given by Dr. Makeen Fouad, a Senior Lecturer at the University of London (SOAS), a Fellow of the Centerof European Law, Kings College (University of London) and visiting Professor at Pepperdine University (USA).

The lectures covered a wide range of topics including copyright law and the audiovisual industry, authorship/ownership ofaudiovisual works, electronic contracts: sale of goods and provision of service over the Internet, formation of point-to-multipointcontracts, electronic commerce in Egypt: the current state of play, consumer protection in the digital world, copyright liabilityof online intermediaries and peer-to-peer and the liability of online intermediaries.

Delegates from ExxonMobil Egypt, S.A.E, the American University in Cairo, the Egyptian Competition Authority, Exceed, MobiNil,Barclays Bank, El Swedy, Pico Agriculture, and Synovate attended in addition to delegates from other law firms.

Shalakany Law Office organized a Series of Lectures on Copyright Lawand Electronic Commerce

Shalakany Law Office contributed a Chapter on Egypt inthe 2009 supplement to the Littler Mendelson Guide toInternational Employment and Labor Law by LittlerEmployment & Labor Law Solutions Worldwide. Informationwas provided about major topics on labor and employmentin Egypt, which includes international treaties andenforcement, resolving disputes between employees andemployers, essential terms in employment contracts andrestrictions on termination, employee benefits, dismissalsand layoffs.

The members of the team who contributed to this publicationare Sally El Shalakany, Senior Associate, Ahmed Shedid,Senior Associate, and Yasmin Al Gharbawie.

Shalakany Law Office contributes tothe 2009 supplement to the LittlerMendelson Guide to International

Employment and Labor LawShalakany Law Office contributed to the Investing AcrossBorders (IAB) indicators project initiated by The InternationalFinance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank. This globalproject benchmarks the ease of establishing and operatingforeign-owned companies in countries across the world byevaluating their investment policy framework and itsimplementation in practice. The principal objective of theIAB project is to stimulate reforms leading to a more business-conducive, transparent and secure environment for foreigndirect investment. The project is modeled after the DoingBusiness initiative of the World Bank Group, which providesinformation on business regulation for domestic enterprises.Doing Business has inspired over 170 reforms worldwide andboasts one of the busiest databases with over 1.6 milliononline visits last year alone. It is intended that the IAB projectwill have a similar lasting positive effect. Mohamed YoussefKamal, Partner, Mohamed Shaker, Partner, and ShereenZaky, Associate, are members of the team who providedinformation.

Investing Across Borders

The Intellectual Property World Desk Reference

Shalakany Law Office contributed to the Intellectual Property World Desk Reference, a publication by Kluwer Law International,with its chapter on Egypt. Information provided includes procedural and general outlines of the main intellectual propertyrights in Egypt. The Firm's IP Department headed by Eng. Amal El Khafif regularly provides updates to the Intellectual PropertyWorld Desk Reference.

23News@SLOwww.shalakany.com

Shalakany Law Office Retreat

On the 10th and 11th of July 2009 lawyersfrom our Cairo, Alexandria and Dubaioffices in addition to some of the seniorand executive management attended aretreat in the Sixth of October Governorateat the Mövenpick Media City Hotel.

The program, led by professional trainers,included many communication exercisesand team building activities in addition tosome social activities.

Those exercises gave participants theopportunity to become more aware of thecritical communication aspects in the lightof the current economic climate and thehigh demands of clients as our Firm iscommitted to providing high qualityservices tailored to fit its clients' needs whilemaking the most cost-efficient use ofprofessional and support staff time andresources.

Participants also learned more about theelements of communicating. Team buildinggames were designed to focus on thecharacteristics of an effective team playerand the elements of an effective team.

In a significant session Dr. Khaled ElShalakany, the Managing Partner,discussed the vision and mission of the Firm. During the session Dr. El Shalakany offered

24 News@SLO www.shalakany.com

the participants various ideas to think aboutsuch as what their dreams are for the futureof the Firm and where they see the Firmand themselves. Dr. El Shalakanyparticularly emphasized the core valuesof the Firm such as team work, equalopportunity and fair assessment in light ofachievements, t ransparency andcommunication, trust and commitment,responsibility and the family spirit.

Dr. El Shalakany further talked about theresponsibilities, commitments, demandsand challenges of leadership and the levelof trust that should be developed in theleaders of the Firm who are represented

by the Senior Partners, members of theExecutive Committee.

Dr. El Shalakany also shared with theparticipants his experience during hismeeting with some managing partnersfrom Lex Mundi member firms worldwidein the annual Managing PartnersConference that took place last June inLondon and how other firms are managed.

Dr. El Shalakany took the chance tocongratulate the new elected partners ontheir new appointments and discussion wasopened to express how they see these

appointments and what their objectivesare for the future.

The retreat was not only a perfect time torelax and reduce stress but it was also anexcellent opportunity for Shalakanymembers of the Cairo, Alexandria andDubai offices to get to know each otherbetter, communicate closely, and shareopinions and experiences.

Unforgettable moments were documentedfor those who participated and will besomething for new members of the Firm tolook forward to, as this experience will surelybecome a regular event.

25News@SLOwww.shalakany.com

Summer Training Program at Shalakany Law Office

As in previous years, our Office held twosessions of our ever popular summertraining program for law students thissummer. Again, we are extremely proudof this summer's training program,including a mock Egyptian criminal courtsimulation

Through planning and by experiencethis program was developed over theyears to fulfill the dual purpose ofaffording us a complete picture ofprospective trainees while exposingthem to the work ethic and characterof our Firm. Our goal is to continue ourtradition of offering Egyptian studentsthe opportunity to learn from us as weare enhanced by their diversity andexpertise. We balance the opportunityto learn about the reality of the practiceof law with the exposure to clients andhow we serve their individual needs.Each of our summer t ra ineesexperienced the practice of law fromthe Firm's perspective with emphasis onmeeting our clients' needs as theyworked with partners and associates.

The training methodology adopted bySLO encourages independent thinkingand helps the students in developingholistic perspectives, strong domainknowledge, contemporary skills andpositive attitudes. In order to develop

professional skills in budding lawyers, theprogram imparts instructions in simulatedsettings such as moot courts, movies andmicro presentations. Knowledge isgained by the students through lectures,debates and group discussions. A skill ofresearch analysis and drafting isdeveloped through projects andassignments.

This summer 40 second and third yearlaw students joined our training programand were provided with a richexperience with some being evaluatedas outstanding and promising futurelawyers. An intensive Trainees' LectureProgram was provided in addition to aseries of talks and discussions held withthe legal mentors, the training supervisorsand other in-house trainers.

A Mock Egyptian Criminal Court Sessionwas held in July for the trainees wherea model session was simulated andperformed by veteran litigators andexperts from Shalakany that gavestudents a chance to engage in role-playing to debate a pressing case anddiscuss the issues surrounding the caseat hand with trainers. The mock session

was organized and managed by Mr.Ossama Abdel Aziz, Partner, LitigationDepartment. During the session, thestudents explored their roles asprosecutors, members of the defense orwitnesses, or as members of theobserving participants.In the selection of trainees we considernot on ly excel lent academicqualifications but also activities andinterests that reflect leadership qualitiesand tell us that the applicant is held inhigh regard by his or her peers. Forexample, such activities and interestscan include holding a position ofleadership in a student organization orcommunity or volunteer group. We alsoconsider candidates from variousbackgrounds and only the top 40candidates were selected after personalinterviews.In order to be considered for joining nextyear's summer program, talented andremarkab le law s tudents a reencouraged to submit their resumes bye-mail tohumanresources@shalakany.comor personally to the Human Resources& Business Development Departmentbefore April 30, 2010.

26 News@SLO www.shalakany.com

27News@SLOwww.shalakany.comThe SLO Annual Iftar Gathering at Le Pacha 1901 - Ramadan 2009

As part of the Firm's commitment to community support, therevenues from the Iftar Tombola tickets bought by ShalakanyLaw Office members were presented as Eid gifts of clothingand school supplies to the children of the Awladi Orphanagein Maadi by our colleague Hala Younis (Administration) justbefore the Eid holidays. The children were filled with joy andexcitement upon receiving their gifts and send their warm,heart-filled appreciation to all Shalakany members whoparticipated. A big thanks to Hala, the Firm and all memberswho helped to make this such a success!

Shalakany Law Office members and staff enjoyed a verypleasant group iftar at Le Pacha 1901 in Zamalek on the 1st ofSeptember 2009, celebrating the holy month of Ramadan andenjoying the wonderful scenes of the Nile at night. As last year,various alumni again joined us for this pleasant and holy occasionwith the Shalakany "family" members. The meal was followed by holding a Tombola with four mainprizes awarded by the Firm with ticket revenues going tocharitable purposes. The winners were very pleased andeverybody enjoyed the Tombola, meal and live oriental bandmusic .

Shalakany Iftar Tombola for Charity

Founded in 1912 by Abdel Fattah ElShalakany the Firm has achieved arecord of success and growth that todaymakes us one of the leading law Firmsin Egypt and the Middle East. The clientbase of the Firm is broad in terms ofnumber of clients, size, and geographicaldistribution of clients and sectorsrepresented. With two domestic officesand one correspondent office in Dubaithe Firm is engaged in general practice

and has extensive experience in international business transactions,major contracts, investment agreements, banking and capitalmarket transactions, mergers and acquisitions, project finance ,intellectual property, software protection, industrial propertyregistration, telecommunications and information technology,aviation, tourism, manufacturing, oil and gas, labor, taxation,

maritime, corporate and commercial, insurance and real estatematters.

Shalakany Law Office also prides itself on being one of the first lawFirms in Egypt to develop specialized expertise in commercialarbitration. On average, the Firm handles about 10 new arbitrationcases annually. The last five years have also seen a substantialexpansion in the Firm's Litigation Department, which handles anaverage of 800 cases a year before all levels of Egyptian courts.The Litigation Department is proud to have some of the leadingretired Egyptian judges and professors as counsel to a dynamicteam of litigation partners and associates.

The Firm has developed considerable expertise in the field of intellectualproperty protection as well as a good working relationship withgovernment agencies and legislative and judicial authorities in chargeof protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights.

Main Office12, Marashly St., Zamalek 11211,Cairo, EgyptTel. : (202) 2728 8888Fax: (202) 2737 0661mail@shalakany.comwww.shalakany.com

Alexandria Address10, Orabi Square - El Manshia - RamlTel. : (203) 484 9998Fax: (203) 481 5908alexandriaoffice@shalakany.com

Dubai Correspondent OfficeAPI World Tower, Suite 204Sheikh Zayed RoadP.O. Box 22880 Dubai, United Arab EmiratesTel. : (9714) 332 7879Fax: (9714) 332 7870mail@shalakany.ae

The Giza Plateau, located some 20km southwest of central Cairo, Egyptand now part of the greater Cairometropolis, is home to a complex ofsome of the most astonishingmonuments in Egyptian history,including the Great Pyramids of Gizaand the massive sculpture known asthe Great Sphinx as well as many otherAncient Egyptian monuments.Located on the outskirts of the city,

and in fact now just adjacent to theperimeter of the antiquities site, thisnecropolis was originally built tooverlook the ancient Egyptian capitalof Memphis at a time when the Nileused to flow right into this plateau.

The Great Pyramids consist of 3pyramids - the Great Pyramid of Giza(or Pyramid of Cheops), the somewhatsmaller Pyramid of Khafre (or

Chephren) a few hundred meters tothe south-west, and the relativelymodest-sized Pyramid of Menkaure(or Mykerinos) a few hundred metersfurther south-west. The Great Sphinxlies on the east side of the complex,facing east. The Great Pyramid ofGiza is the only remaining monumentof the Seven Wonders of the AncientWorld.